Media Literacy Teaching Manual

Part 1 Introduction to Media Literacy Core

Concepts and Outcomes
Core Concept #1: What is media literacy
1a Forms and Types of Media
1b Definition of Media Literacy
1c Effect of Media on the Brain

Core Concept #2: Media is intentionally constructed

2a Components of Media
2b Media Creates Emotion
2c Media Creates a Fantasy World

Core Concept #3: Media can be deconstructed

3a Basic Persuasion Techniques
3b Text
3c Subtext
3d Target Audience
3e Deconstruction and Reconstruction

Part 2 Introduction to Social Marketing and

Steps to Creating a Message
A. Define a Social Issue
A1 What Matters to You
A2 What to Do About It

B. Picking an Audience
B1 Whom to Target
B2 Targeting Teens: the Truth Campaign

C. Develop a Message
C1 Creativity Enhancer
C2 Find a Persuasive Message/ Know Your Audience
C3 Using Subtext
C4 Using Natural Instinct for Rebellion

D. Share the Message

D1 Creating the Whole Message
D2 Sharing and Feedback

Table of Contents
PART 1: INTRODUCTION TO MEDIA LITERACY ................................................................................. 5
1 WHAT IS MEDIA LITERACY............................................................................................................................ 5
1a Define Forms and Types of Media ........................................................................................................ 5
1b Why Do Media Literacy? ....................................................................................................................... 7
1c Effect of Media on the Brain .................................................................................................................. 9
2 MEDIA IS INTENTIONALLY CONSTRUCTED: DEFINE COMPONENTS OF MEDIA ......................................... 11
2a Music Creates Stories........................................................................................................................... 11
2a Brand Name Logo Alphabet ................................................................................................................ 13
2a Slogans and Jingles Call Out............................................................................................................... 15
2a What Do You See? ................................................................................................................................ 17
2a What you See is Not Always What you Get: ....................................................................................... 19
2a Photos and Text With an Agenda ........................................................................................................ 21
2b Name that Emotion!.............................................................................................................................. 23
2c Fantasy World....................................................................................................................................... 25
2c Who Creates Our Reality? Movie Bingo............................................................................................. 27
2c Recreating Reality ................................................................................................................................ 29
3 MEDIA CAN BE DECONSTRUCTED ................................................................................................................ 31
3a Persuasion in Real Life ........................................................................................................................ 31
3a Persuasion Skits.................................................................................................................................... 33
3a Persuasion Strategy Pass Around ....................................................................................................... 35
3a Persuasion Strategies in Commercials ............................................................................................... 37
3b Text: What did you see and hear? ...................................................................................................... 39
3c Subtext Analogy & Commercials......................................................................................................... 41
3c Subtext in Ads: Concentric Circles...................................................................................................... 43
3d Targeting Kids ...................................................................................................................................... 45
3d Different Ads for Different Target Audiences..................................................................................... 47
3e Putting it all Together, or Taking it all Apart..................................................................................... 49
3e DIY Counter Ads (Do it Yourself)........................................................................................................ 51
3e Guissimo (A Fantastic Review Game!) ............................................................................................... 53
PART 2 INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL MARKETING AND CREATING MEDIA ........................ 55
A DEFINE A SOCIAL ISSUE .............................................................................................................................. 57
A1 What Matters to Canada? ................................................................................................................... 57
A1 What Matters to you?........................................................................................................................... 59
A2 So Many Options for Promoting Change ........................................................................................... 61
A2 What To Do About It? .......................................................................................................................... 63
B PICKING AN AUDIENCE ................................................................................................................................ 65
B1 Finding the Target ............................................................................................................................... 65
B1 Finding Your Target Audience............................................................................................................ 67
B2 Targeting Teens: The Truth Campaign .............................................................................................. 69
C D ESIGN A MESSAGE..................................................................................................................................... 71
C1 Two Games to Get the Creativity Going ............................................................................................ 71
C2 Who is Your Audience ........................................................................................................................ 73
C3 To Be Preachy or Not to Be That is the Question! ......................................................................... 75
C4 Dont Push the Red Button! ................................................................................................................ 77
D CREATION .................................................................................................................................................... 79
D1 Using Persuasion Strategies to Sell a Positive Message .................................................................. 79
D1 Just Do It. ............................................................................................................................................. 81
D1 Unintended Subtext.............................................................................................................................. 83
D2 Giving Feedback on Storyboards ....................................................................................................... 85
D2 Finalize Storyboards, Share with Classmates, Give and Receive Feedback................................... 89

PART 1: Introduction to Media Literacy

1 What is Media Literacy
1a Define forms and types of media
1b Defining and Why do media literacy
1c Effect of media on the brain

1a Define Forms and Types of Media

Objectives:
To consider the broad range of places and mediums from which we get
information.

Materials:
Find Someone Who Handout for activity 3.

Activity Description:
1. Whole class Brainstorming:
Materials: none
Ask the class where we get information?
Possible answers will include the usual:
TV
Internet
Radio
Newspaper.
Encourage deeper thought to include:
Words on T-shirts,
Ringtones on cell phones,
Posters in the classroom,
Movies, etc.
Once students catch on, they often have novel ideas about sources of information.
2. Stand Up Sit Down Activity:
Materials: none
Ask everyone to stand up who engages in a particular activity:
Watch TV
Surfed the web,
Talk on a landline phone,
Talk on a cell phone

Read the newspaper,

Read a magazine,
Seen a bill board,
Noticed a brand of product in a movie
3. Find Someone Who:
Materials: Ice Breaker sheet.
Use the attached Bingo game. It is a great opening activity
Have students walk around room and find someone who can
answer yes to the list of activities on the sheet. Students who
answered yes can initial the box.
NOTE: The website: www.ourreality.org has many examples of media created
by Alaskan youth, along with multiple online resources. Check it out.

1a Define forms and types of media

1b Defining and Why do media literacy
1c Effect of media on the brain

1b Why Do Media Literacy?

Objectives:
Define the words media, literacy and media literacy.
Relate learning media literacy skills with learning how to read and write.
Understand why media literacy skills are important.

Materials:
What is Media Literacy? handout

Activity Description:
1. Pre-Activity
Complete What is Media? Activity on p. 5. That activity will be
referenced later in this activity.
2. Large Group Discussion - Literacy
What does the word literacy means? Literacy is the ability to read and
write to a competent level.
3. Pair Share
Have students work in pairs. Invite students to share a memory they have
about when they were learning to read or to write.
4. Large Group Discussion
Discussion Questions:
What was it like before you knew how to read or write?
What is it like now that you know how to read and write?

What do you do much of your writing on?

What do you use to write many of your papers for school?
What form does much of reading today take?
What form does reading take outside of school?
Much of reading and writing takes place today on a computer. Reading
on Internet sites, writing papers on the computer, even taking exams, like
the SATs online are common.
4. Pair Share
In new pairs, invite students to share a memory of the first time that they
used a computer or got online. How was this different or the same as
your first experiences with reading or writing?
5. Large Group Brainstorm
If literacy is the ability to read and write, brainstorm with the class what
media literacy means. Record their answers in a web, list, or other
format. Type up their answers and distribute this as a handout for the
students.
Brainstorming Questions:
What is media? Refer back to the Pre-Activity.
We live in a media saturated culture. What does this mean?
What does it mean to read media?
What does it mean to write or create media?
What skills are needed to read and write media?
Why is being able to read and write media important now?
Media literacy is:
Recognizing that we are bombarded by messages from the media (TV,
radio, newspaper, movies, music, internet, etc.) everyday throughout the
day. (OBSERVE)
Identifying the hidden messages in the media and the tools of
persuasion the media uses. (ANALYZE)
Becoming conscious of how those messages affect us. (EVALUATE)
Taking action choosing not to let the media influence you, creating
anti-ads, talking with friends and family, limiting the amount of TV you
watch, not being a walking billboard, etc. (CREATE)
8

1a Define forms and types of media

1b Defining and Why do media literacy
1c Effect of media on the brain

1c Effect of Media on the Brain

Objectives: Learn the physiological and psychological power that media,

especially that which is designed to be persuasive, has on our brain,

Understand that media has a role in defining who we are and what we think is
normal.
NOTE: At this point it is often useful to let students know that the intent is
not to demonize media, or TV, but to gain skills and ability to not be
robotrons, and sponges, but to watch while maintaining personal
integrity.

Activity Descriptions:
1. Assume the Position
Materials: none
Ask students to assume the following positions:
Watching TV (short of lying on the desk or floor.)
When the principal walks into the classroom.
When a very attractive new student walks into the classroom.
Then, discuss how each felt. Alert? Engaged in surroundings? Relaxed?
Our brains really are connected to our bodies, and experience similar
levels of alertness and receptivity when involved in different activities.
2. Large Group Brain Discussion 1
Materials: Beavis Picture
Lecture points: The Reptilian part of
the brain is associated with survival.
It is the part of the brain that is
activated in a life and death
emergency, when there isnt time to
make thoughtful decisions.

The Limbic or Mammalian region of the brain is hundreds of thousands of

years old. Scientists think this is where memories are stored.
The newest region is the Neocortex. Its age can be counted only in
thousands of years. Scientists tell us this is where language is stored.
A note for students, the Neocortex goes through a significant growth
spurt during adolescence. This is one reason risk taking is higher in youth
than adults; the ability to critically think through consequences is still
developing.
By appealing to our reptilian and limbic parts of the brain, advertisers
encourage us to act and feel, but not to think. Advertisements are
effective at creating visual and emotional memories that dont necessarily
interact with the cortex, or logical abstract reasoning part of the brain.
By designing ads that appeal to young people in this manner, They grab
attention, which also powerfully tells kids to stop thinking. That is,
they decrease usage of the neocortex region, and reduce analysis,
critiquing and development of empathy. Stopping thinking is one of the
developmental mechanisms behind attention deficit.
Discussion Questions:

Do you think advertisers know about how the brain works?

How could they use the information?
On a strictly physiological basis, which do you think is more primal,
words or pictures?

3. Large Group Brain Discussion 2 (for a more advanced brain discussion)

Materials: Simplified Brain Behavior Handout
This image provides more detail about how the parts of the brain and their
associated functions.
An important part of the brain discussion is to consider that how the neo-cortex
grows during adolescence, is dependent on what it is exposed to. The brain
responds to stimuli. For example, if a teen is exposed to significant violence and
stress, the brain stem, or reptilian part of the brain will branch and grow, leaving
the neo-cortex less developed.
Discussion Questions:
What could happen if the neo-cortex does not adequately develop
during adolescence?
What can you do to increase neo-cortex growth?
10

2 Media is Intentionally Constructed:

Define Components of Media
2a Define Components of Media
2b Media Creates Emotion
2c Media Creates a Fantasy World

2a Music Creates Stories

Objectives:
Understand how different music can create a different story.
Recognize that media is consciously constructed.

Materials:
Same video clip with three different music backgrounds (labeled SequenceOne,
SequenceTwo, and SequenceThree on the resource CD)

Activity Description:
1. View Media & Discuss
Play the video clip without any sound at all. Ask the students to tell the
possible stories about the guy in the clip.
Play the video clip with music #1. What is the story?
Play the video clip with music #2. What is the story?
Play the video clip with music #3. What is the story?
Discuss how different music can tell a completely different story using the
same video clip.

11

12

2a Define Components of Media

2b Media Creates Emotion
2c Media Creates a Fantasy World

2a Brand Name Logo Alphabet

Objectives:
Identify the components (color, font, etc.) of media that help us recognize
particular brands or products.
Recognize that media is consciously constructed.

Materials:
Logo Alphabet (from New Mexico Media Literacy Project)
Answer key

Activity Description:
1. Pair Share
Explain that each letter in this logo alphabet comes from a particular
brand. Tell students to turn to the person sitting next to them and see
how many brands they can identify. Give students two minutes or so.
2. Large Group Discussion
As a large group, identify each brand.
Why do we remember the brands even if it is not a product we use?
Colors, fonts, images, slogans or jingles, commercials, ads help us
recognize the brands or the products even if we do not use them.
Advertisers spend millions of dollars thinking about the best way to make
us remember and want to use their products. Media is very purposefully
and consciously constructed.

13

14

2a Define Components of Media

2b Media Creates Emotion
2c Media Creates a Fantasy World

2a Slogans and Jingles Call Out

Objectives:
Experience and understand the power words add to a message.

Materials:
Jingles and Slogan Document

Activity Description:
Read the first part of the slogan to students and let them call out the name
of the associated business or product.
Youre in Good Hands
Allstate

Is It In You
Gatorade

Whats on your list today

Fred Meyer

You can do it. We can Help.

Home Depot

Every Kiss Begins With

Kay Jewelers

The Captain Was Here

Captain Morgan

Can You Hear Me Now

Verizon Wireless

Twoallbeefpattiesspecialsauce
lettucecheesepicklesonionson
asesameseedbun
McDonalds

NOTE: You can personalize this list with your favorites. When you get to
Captain Morgan, many students will first think it is Captain Crunch.
When a student guesses Captain Morgan, be prepared for all eyes to turn
to that student.
If the students have seen the Supersize Me documentary they may already
know the two all beef patties line.

15